English Premier League
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho continues to hog the headlines in the Premier League after again calling into question his team’s character, as they head into a high-profile midweek clash at home to Arsenal.
The Red Devils once again floundered and recorded a third successive winless match in the English top flight as they fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Southampton on Saturday evening. With an incoherent tactical system (caused to some extent by an injury crisis, particularly in defence) and a lack of intensity, United continue to look second rate and their hopes of a top-four finish are waning each week.
“It doesn’t matter about the system. It has to do with the characteristics of the players and we don’t have many, with all the respect, mad dogs – the ones who bite the ball all the time and press all the time. We don’t have many with that spirit,” Mourinho said after the game.
United will need to find their ‘mad dogs’ for the pick of the midweek games, which sees them welcome Arsenal to Old Trafford on Wednesday night. The Gunners look to be in ominous form, claiming a thrilling 4-2 home win over North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (thanks to goals from Pierre Emerick Aubameyang [2], Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira) to extend their unbeaten run to 19 matches across all competitions.
Manager Unai Emery has overseen a revolution at the Gunners and adding a positive result at Old Trafford to a victory over Spurs would be the perfect way to underline their development and assert themselves as top-four contenders.
Also on Sunday, Chelsea returned to winning form with victory over Fulham (and former manager Claudio Ranieri) in the West London derby, while Liverpool’s Divock Origi scored deep in injury time to see the Reds claim a dramatic 1-0 win over Everton in the Merseyside derby.
This saw Manchester City’s lead at the top of the log cut back to two points, following their 3-1 home triumph over Bournemouth on Saturday, with goals from Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan.
In the wake of the win over the Cherries, Man City boss Pep Guardiola (who celebrated his 400th career victory as a manager) challenged German winger Leroy Sane to consistently repeat the level of performance he showed on Saturday – the first chance to do so will be in a tricky game away to Watford on Tuesday night.
"He [Sane] was incredible, created chances, was positive in mind. We never doubt him but he’s only 22 and up and down and that is normal. Maybe in the future he will realise how important that he is and be like Fernandinho, David Silva, every week an eight or nine [out of 10],” said the Citizens’ boss.
Elsewhere Cardiff City claimed a much-needed home win and extended Wolverhampton Wanders’ slump, Javier Hernandez gave a timely reminder of his goal-scoring class with two strikes in West Ham United’s 3-0 away win over Newcastle United, and Wilfried Zaha’s Crystal Palace defeated Burnley 2-0 to end their drought at Selhurst Park.
Key match stats
Everton v Newcastle United – Head-to-head, Premier League
Matches played 46
Everton wins 20
Newcastle wins 17
Draws 9
Watford v Manchester City – Head-to-head, Premier League
Matches played 8
Watford wins 0
City wins 6
Draws 2
Manchester United v Arsenal – Head-to-head, Premier League
Matches played 52
United wins 24
Arsenal wins 13
Draws 15
Premier League results & fixtures, 30 November – 5 December
All times CAT
Friday 30 November
Cardiff City 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Saturday 1 December
Crystal Palace 2-0 Burnley
Huddersfield Town 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Leicester City 2-0 Watford
Manchester City 3-1 Bournemouth
Newcastle United 0-3 West Ham United
Southampton 2-2 Manchester United
Sunday 2 December
Chelsea 2-0 Fulham
Arsenal 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool 1-0 Everton
Tuesday 4 December
21:45: Bournemouth v Huddersfield Town
21:45: Brighton & Hove Albion v Crystal Palace
21:45: West Ham United v Cardiff City
21:45: Watford v Manchester City
Wednesday 5 December
21:45: Burnley v Liverpool
21:45: Fulham v Leicester City
21:45: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea
21:45: Everton v Newcastle United
22:00: Manchester United v Arsenal
22:00: Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton
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